"St. Anonymous"

 

I recently did some exploring the downriver area of Detroit. It's an otherworldly place with huge factories, water treatment facilities, and rivers and canals. I found this unused church surrounded by vast fields. There was a car and RV parked next to the parish house, so Im pretty sure someone lives on the premises. Detroit seems to be full of little gems like this. If anyone knows what this church was originally called, please drop me an email. I couldn't find anything on the interwebs about it. 

"Be Right Back"

 

We have a couple old rotary dial phones in our basement collecting dust. I haven't done a still life in a while so I thought I'd use one in a painting. Then I thought I'd make a little story out of it. I imagined someone have a late-night conversation and needing to go grab a snack or something. Hence the title. This phone reminds me of when our daughters were young. They had a friend over one day and she asked me if she could use our phone so I handed her this one. She stared at it for a minute, totally flummoxed. I asked her if there was a problem and she said, "Mister,  how do you use one of these things"? I nearly busted a gut laughing. 

"New Haven Station"

 

New Haven is a small town north of Detroit. It's in a rural area and had a small train depot on the Port Huron to Detroit Grand Trunk rail line. There were several stations designed by the same architect. They all look similar, but with slight variations. This one is almost exactly like the Smiths Creek Depot at Greenfield Village, except it features some yellow brickwork around the windows and doorways. It was almost torn down in the early 1970s, but a preservation group came to its rescue. Such a beautiful little piece of history. 

"Gratiot-Mack Bank"

 

As the title would imply, this old bank building is located at the intersection of Gratiot and Mack in Detroit. Unlike a lot of the other abandoned banks, this one has been well kept up. It's a handsome structure that I'm happy to see is being put to god use, unlike the ones that are being used as churches or party stores. 

"Brownie Reflex"

 

I had no idea Kodak made a camera like this. Pretty cool 220 film camera for relatively cheap. Not sure if you can tell, but the flash was pretty beat up. 

"Hob Knobs"

 

Walked into our library early one morning and saw the sun creating this extraordinary scene. The warm glow made the white doors look incredible. Here's my impression of the scene. 

"Lakeshore Omen"

 

A late winter scene I happened across but just got around to painting. The light in the upper hand corner was from a streetlamp, just out of the field of view. It gave the scene an eerie quality to it. And the scene was pretty monochromatic, which added to there mysterious feel to it. 

"Downriver Doings"

 

A couple weeks ago I scoured the downriver area of Detroit looking for old bank buildings to pain. On the way back, I found this interesting plant. Not sure what was being processed here, but I thought it looked petty neat, so I snapped a couple pix. As luck would have it, I recently discovered an old canvas that was the perfect shape for the scene. Voila! 

Winter Light"

 

Woke up early one morning and this is what I saw. Thought it was worth committing to canvas. 

"Pier Pressure"

 

Last wee I was driving down Lakeshore Dr. on a foggy morning. It was so foggy you could barely make out the fishing boats on the water. Then I spotted the Farms Pier, one of our local lakefront parks. The fog gave it a monochromatic look and I was going to come back and photograph it. Then I decided, what the heck! Seize the foggy day! So I pulled over and snapped a pic with my portable telecommunication device. Then I drove home and painted this. 

"Tugging at My Heart"

 

Spent a recent afternoon exploring the downriver area of Detroit looking for old bank buildings. We drove around the Rouge River where we spotted a bunch of tugs and a couple of freighters. They were so brightly painted I though they'd make an interesting painting. When I was about 3/4 of the way done with it I just about gave up. It just wasn't looking right. But I persisted and this is the end result. 

"Pinky Swear"

Another exotic Alstroemeria I got from Trader Joes. I just love all the colors they come in. Not quite on the level of orchids, but close. And they're so much fun to paint! 

 

"Fort Street Drawbridge"

 

Spent a recent Sunday driving around the downriver part of Detroit looking for old bank buildings. Discovered this cool drawbridge spanning the Rouge 'river. A beautiful structure probably build in the 1920s or 30s. 

"Kodak 35"

I thought this was a pretty cool looking camera. Unfortunately this was the only reasonably priced one I could find on Ebay. I was warned that it was a bit worn. The camera itself wasn't in too bad shape--it obviously had been used quite a bit. But the case was beat to hell. Oh well. I guess you could say it has character. 

 

"Pine Cone No. 4"

 

Last one in the series. If you have any other ideas for a series of quick sketches/studies, let me know!

"Pine Cone No. 3"

 

Next installment in this series of quick sketches. I like the abstract qualities these take on when I put a pine cone on a white background.